Valve tappet



Oct. 15, 1929. e. R. RICH VALVE TAPPET Filed June 14. 1927 19 :W/ i i Patented Oct. 15, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE E. RICH, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO WILGOX-RICH CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN VALVE TAPPET Application. filed June 14,

This invention relates to valve tappets and similar articles of manufacture. It is well known that valve tappets require a very hard cam contacting surface portion and to meet this requirement I have heretofore produced a practical valve tappet having this characteristic as is shown and described in my Patents No. 1,606,181, dated November 6, 1926, and No. 1,628,911, dated May 17, 1927. An important factor at the present time is the cost of producing valve tappets employing a cast iron or white iron cam contacting facing madeintegral with the body portion, and one of the objects of this invention is to simplify and materially cheapen the cost of production of articles of this kind. Cast iron or white iron being very hard are quite breakable, and one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a separately formed head portion for the tappet, which is made of tough material such as mild steel, and to electrically or otherwise deposit molten cast iron upon said tougher material and integrally unite it therewith, thereby minimizing the danger of breakage of the head portion of the tappets from the usual usage to which they are put.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, this invention consists in a valve tappet or other article of manufacture, embodying a shank, a separately formed disc like head portion secured thereon, and a cast iron or white iron facingelectrically or otherwise deposited on said head portion while in a molten state and integrally united therewith. The invention further consists in a valve tappet or other article of manufacture having a steel shank, a steel 'disc like head portion secured on one end of the shank and a cast iron or a white iron facing electrically or otherwise deposited upon the head portion and end of the shank while in a molten state and thereby integrally uniting the cast iron facing, head portion and shank. The invention further consists in the several novel features hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the drawing accompanying this specification, in which:

1927. Serial No. 198,705.

Fig. l is a side elevation of a valve tappet embodying a simple form of the present i11- vention; Fig. 2 is aside elevation, partly broken away, showing the valve tappet at one stage in the course of construction; Fig. 3 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in central vertical section, of the shank and head portion showing the two detached from each other; Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the shank and head portion secured together; Fig. 5 is an end view of the parts seen in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is an end View of the finished tappet seen in Fig. 1.

Referring to said drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of the invention, the valve tappet comprises a shank 10, a separately formed disc like head portion 11 and a cast iron or white iron facing 12 electrically or otherwise deposited upon the head portion 11 and end of the shank 10 while in a molten state and integrally united therewith. Usuah ly the shank 10 is formed with the flattened end part 13 for the reception of a wrench or other tool and it may be bored out as at 14 and internally threaded as at 145 for the recep tion of the usual adjustment stud. As a pref erence the headed end of the shank is formed with a neck 15, which may be made slightly tapered if desired, and a shoulder 16 may be provided between said neck and the main body portion. The disc like head portion 11 is secured to the shank in any desirable manner and in the form shown, the head portion is formed with a central aperture 17, which is adapted to receive the neck 15 of the shank as is clearly seen in Fig. 4:. The neck fits tightly in the aperture of the head portion and the two are secured together by forcing the head portion over the neck. The shoulder 16 is provided merely for the purpose of locating the head portion 11 when forced upon the neck 15. While the head portion 11 may be perfectly flat on its bearing end or face, I prefer to form a shallow recess 18 therein which is surrounded by a relatively thin marginal flange or rim 19. As a preference the neck 15 is made slightly longer than the thickness of the body portion of the head portion 11 and protrudes from the aperture as is clearly illustrated as in Fig. 1.

may be cut from steel-rods as is found most desirable. However, by striking the pieces up from strip-or sheet steel the cost of production may be considerably lessened. After the shanks have been formed and before they are assembled with the head portions they are hardened. After they have been hardened and the head portion secured thereon, the

iron cam contacting facing 12 is electrically or otherwise deposited on the end faces of I the headxportion and-shank and the head portion and shank are thereby welded together and the facing is welded to both the head portion andshank. V

In applying the cast iron facing to the head portion'and shankof the tappet, the

tappet piece is placed in a suitable support; a bar or stick of cast iron is used to-supply the fac1ng,.and a suitable weldingtool such as an arczwelding-toolis employed toobtain the necessaryheat and-a portion of the cast iron stick is melted away and welded to the head portion andshank while in a! molten state.

In order to obtain the most efiicient results the arc welding tool is first applied to the end face of the neck 15 and as that part commences to fuse, the workman applies the cast iron stick to the end face of the neck and with .the arc welding tool melts away a sufficient amount of ironfrom the cast iron stick to .completelyfill the recess in the head portion and to form' a crown thereover as is clearly seen'in'Fig. 2. The workman maintainsthe are for a moment ortwo-and moves the tool around in'the recess, therebyconvert-ing the (cast iron into white iron and effectively weldingthehead portion 11 to the shank 10 and welding the cast iron or white iron facing to the head portion and shank. It will thus be seen that the three metals comprising the cam contacting facing, the head portion and the shank are'weld'ed together into asingle piece, thereby eliminating any possibility of any of the three piecesbecoming separated from the others. vAfter the facing has been applied to the tappet, thesurface portions are machined'in theusnal manner. In finishing the tappet its surface portionsfare usually ground in suitable grinding machines,where .it'is machined'to exact size. 7

i .In'Fig. 2 the original shape of the neck 15 and the original shape of the recess 18 in the end face of the head portion 11 arejshown in dotted lines, but when the cast iron or white iron-facingisfused to these parts, considerable of the snrface 'portions of the metals of the head .portionand.shanlrare, melted and unite with the metal of the facing in an irregular form as is indicated by the cross hatching in Fig. 2.

While I have mentioned the use of an arc welding tool for fusing the metals together, I do not wish to limit myself to such a tool as any other suitable instrun'ient can be used, which will supply the high heat necessary to properly fuse the metals together.

It will be observed that the usual process of forging a tappet body from a bar or rod of steel, with a power hammer or power press is dispensed with, and that the time, labor and expensive machinery and appliances, necessary to the forging process, are eliminated. The present method of forming the pieces by automatic machinery, greatly reduces the cost of manufacture, simplifies the work and admits of greatly increased production.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible without departing from the spirit of this invention; I desire, therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of the construction shown and described, but intend, in the following claims, to point out all of the invention disclosed herein.

I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A valve tappet comprising a shank having a neck portion enlarged at a place beyond its end, and a centrally apertured, mild steel, disk-like head port-ion having a recess in one face and surrounding and secured against said enlargement on said neck portion of the shank and a white iron coin contacting facing substantially covering the recessed end face of the head portion, said facing being integrally united with said headportion and neck, and integrally uniting said head portion with said neck.

2. A valve tappet comprising a shank having a shoulder and a neck thereon, an annular diskelike head portion surrounding and secured on said neck against said shoulder, an iron cam contacting facing substantially covering the end face of said head portion, said facing being integrally united with said head. portion and neck.

8. A valve tappet comprising a shank, having a neck and a shoulder thereon, and an annular, mild steel, disk-like head portion surrounding and secured on said neck against said shoulder, and a white iron cam contacting facing substantially covering the end face of the head portion, said facing being integrally. united with said head portion and neck, and integrally uniting said head portion with said neck.

GEORGE R. RICH. 

